At the recent 2018 Taiwan International Plastics and Rubber Industry Exhibition, many people expressed their views on the Sino-US trade war.
Business executives said that in the short term, the outlook is good. Larry Wei, president of Taiwan's blow molding equipment manufacturer Fengji International Machinery Co., said that last month his company sold three units to US customers for $1.6 million.
Tool and mold makers have also seen a positive side. 'The trade war has provided us with a great opportunity to enter the US market,' said Eric Li of mold maker CNN Plastics Systems Ltd. This is the exhibitor of the show. Common point of view.
However, some US buyers have doubts about the trade war. Taiwanese manufacturers are not going to sell their products to them. Their views are also more pessimistic.
2018 Taiwan International Plastics and Rubber Industry Exhibition
At the show from August 15th to 19th, the machine builders interviewed said that they knew that when production engineers consider buying products at a high price, the price is far less than the service, and the commitment to support and long-term stability is important.
They said they know that China's large machinery manufacturers have completed the hard work of building local sales teams, support staff and technology centers. These services will not disappear overnight.
Taiwan's injection molding machine manufacturer Fuqiangxin Precision Industry Co., Ltd. and its competitor in Taiwan, Zhongshan Quanlifa Machinery Co., Ltd. are all large enterprises.
The two companies have factories in mainland China and Taiwan. But for now, neither company puts the US market first.
'For some Taiwanese plastic machinery manufacturers, this is an opportunity. But it is not for us.' Jeff Lee, a sales expert at Quanlifa, said.
At the same time, Fuqiangxin is also focusing on the European market, and its distributors are busy building a sales and support network covering the whole continent.
Sales manager Hank Wu said that tariffs have hit the Chinese small manufacturers the hardest. He pointed out that mainland China's competitors with global influence have the flexibility to move assembly operations overseas.
'A big company like Haitian has been produced in other countries.' He said.
Some Taiwanese companies say they are still not competitive in terms of price despite the tariffs imposed.
'Our machines are three times more expensive than mainland machines.' Sandy Kuo, deputy general manager of Jumbo Steel Machinery, said Jumbo is a manufacturer with 33 years of experience in pipette production.
Jumbo's machines supply brands such as Starbucks and McDonald's in the US supply chain. Sandy Kuo says, for those big straw manufacturers, reliability always outweighs the price.
Of course, the existence of the generation gap also leads to different views. The older generation of industry professionals who have experienced macroeconomic shocks in the past few decades - the euro zone debt crisis in recent years, the Great Recession in 2008, Asia in 1997-98 The financial crisis, even the Black Monday of 1987, was more cautious about its prospects.
Many of them are directors of the Taiwan Machinery Industry Association.
'In the long run, we believe that trade disputes may affect investment willingness.' Alan Wang, chairman of the Plastics Machinery Committee of the Taiwan Machinery Industry Association, said.
Even completely rivals have differences in their predictions.
Ray Wu, director of the US office of Hi-More Robot, based in Taoyuan, said: 'The trade war is good for us because it makes mainland products so expensive.'
However, Tenso Machinery, a small robot manufacturer with annual sales of about $7 million, is concerned about a chain reaction.
'Many of our customers are mainland car companies, and trade wars will affect their production.' Ivan Chen, marketing manager for the Golden Claw Machinery.